A week in review: How the 2025 NFL Draft class of QBs looked in Week 9
A week in review: How the 2025 NFL Draft class of QBs looked in Week 9
How did the 2025 NFL Draft crop of quarterbacks do in Week 9?
This 2025 NFL Draft class of quarterbacks is, quite frankly, not a great one.
Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders has elevated his game this year from a year ago and finds himself as the top quarterback in the class. Miami’s Cam Ward finds himself in the QB2 slot, almost by default.
It is on par with that of the 2013 class where E.J. Manuel was the only first round pick and the 2022 class where Kenny Pickett was the only first round pick. And it does not seem like any of these other quarterbacks have any interest in separating themselves.
Yet the charts must go on.
Creating Weighted On-Target Percentage has helped me to see more of the story of these quarterbacks. It helps to get past the dopamine hits that one sees on Sportscenter or on social media and shows a much larger picture of who the quarterback is. So why not share my findings with you?
As always, you can find the link to the charts and the philosophy behind the charts here.
So let’s dive into each of these performances this weekend. Georgia’s Carson Beck and Clemson’s Cade Klubnik were on bye weeks, while Indiana’s Kurtis Rourke missed Indiana’s win over Washington with a thumb injury.
Shedeur Sanders, Colorado vs. Cincinnati
This was not the best game Shedeur Sanders has ever played, but it wasn’t the worst as he threw for 323 yards and three two touchdowns (rushing for one as well). His deep ball accuracy was surprisingly off in this one as he is the best deep ball passer in the class.
However, Sanders was on time and on point at every other level of the field in Colorado’s win over Cincinnati. He did nothing in this game to move me off of him as the top quarterback in this class.
Cam Ward, Miami vs. Florida State
Despite the blowout win over Florida State and a flashy box score, this was a bit of a stinker from Ward. The majority of his completions came within five yards of the line of scrimmage, and he was 0-for-6 when throwing 15 yards or more down the field.
Overall, his Weighted On-Target Percentage keeps plummeting as the year goes on. At this point we know who Ward is as a quarterback: he has elite arm talent but takes a lot of unnecessary heat by unnecessarily operating outside of structure.
Drew Allar, Penn State vs. Wisconsin
Drew Allar left the win over Wisconsin with an injury in the first half. Before that, he was having another efficient game throwing at the intermediate level, completing 4-of-5 over the middle and 1-of-2 outside the numbers.
However, the issue with Allar that has been the issue all season is the lack of big throws on tape. He has thrown just 10 deep balls all season and did not throw one in this game. Allar has become the safe pick at quarterback, which is a bit of a letdown considering the massive arm he has.
Garrett Nussmeier, LSU vs. Texas A&M
I wrote extensively on Nussmeier on Monday. I’ll keep this brief. He’s great when he is on time and doesn’t have to push the football. The wheels fall off when he does.
Jalen Milroe, Alabama vs. Missouri
After the Georgia game, it looked like Jalen Milroe was ready to ascend to new heights in this quarterback class. He has a big arm, legitimately runs a 4.3 40-yard dash, and showed massive strides as a pocket passer, playing with fast eyes through his progressions.
He’s laid stinker after stinker since then. The Vanderbilt loss was a fine game for him, but it’s been rough since then. Despite a 34-0 win over Missouri, Milroe left a lot of red on his passing chart.
Quinn Ewers, Texas vs. Vanderbilt
Point blank: the Texas Longhorns are not giving them a chance to compete for a national title until they bench Quinn Ewers for Arch Manning. Ewers has the lowest average depth of target in the country, and it’s because he routinely opts to check out of concepts to dump the ball off and Steve Sarkisian appeared to dumb down the playbook after a rough outing against Georgia.
But it was still more of the same. 27 attempts under 10 yards on the day, 1-of-4 when throwing the football more than 15 yards down the field. Despite being the highest-rated recruit in history out of high school, there is little to hang your hat on with Ewers as an NFL prospect.
Jaxson Dart, Ole Miss vs. Oklahoma
The Ole Miss quarterback will always have dominant outings against the low-level competition they opened their season with. Since entering SEC play, however, Dart has struggled. This was his best game in a while, and it still was just fine.
Over the last four games, all against SEC opponents, Dart is just 8-of-27 throwing down the field. And for an offense that frequently wants to throw the deep ball, it has been ugly for Dart and Ole Miss. Dart is certainly draftable, but he’s the Day 3 quarterback that everyone loves this year.